Found another 10 cents today: a total of $8.30 in my Trans Siberian fund.

Payday. A whole $289.61 into my account. The electrician's bill finally arrived so I paid it right away, $222.63. Still left with well over $2,000 in the House maintenance a/c.
I had almost $500 in my check a/c so transferred $400 to my FFEF. I now have $2.082 in there.
I went to Knit Squad this afternoon and made a gold coin donation. I also put a dollar from my misc money into my Trans Siberian trip money tin. If I put a dollar in there every week I'll get there in a hundred years! But if I don't start saving something I'll never get there.
And I bought another cabbage and 4 cans of beans at a dollar each. It's a good job I like cabbage, and it can be cooked in so many ways.

For the months of July, August and September I am recieving an extra $20.45 a week to cover increased heating costs. I have the heat pump on pretty much permanently in winter, it is bad for me to be cold.

I went to the Caltex gas station today and bought bread and pasta for $8.60. I paid with one of my vouchers and got $1.40 in change. I will buy carrots with some of my cash on Sat, apart from that I don't need anything.

And I found 50 cents on the way home. I now have $5.20 towards travelling the Trans Siberian.

For lunch I made a batter with peaflour and curry powder and added the struggling bean sprouts to make vege pancakes.

Today I found 30 cents. At one stage I was saving all my found money for a trip on the Trans Siberian. I think I'll do that again.

I made some sprout scones from the recipe by Jack Monroe except I used kale. They were good; I'll definitely make more of her recipes.

Today is benefit payday. As well, I received $220 from my Bonus Bonds, which will be reinvested, and I found .20 cents. Now to see how much I can hold onto. The only cloud on the horizon is my share of the plumber's bill for a burst pipe which affected all our units.

My first no spend this week, plus I found .60 cents.

I walked to the library today, and on the way I found $3 in coins by a parking meter (hope no one was trying to raid it). On the way back I found another dollar. Also in the afternoon I visited my former neighbor, and she gave me a lettuce and some chard from her garden.

When I find money I generally just toss it in my change jar, which i bank when it gets to 6 or 7 dollars.(the bank doesn't mind me depositing that much in loose change). I don't know how much I've found over the years, tho I have found a $20 note on more than one occasion. i'm going to save it in a separate box to see how much it comes too. Starting with the .20 cents I found in the last 3 days.

Another no spend day, plus I found .10 cents. Need more days like this.

of Work & Income for medical certificates continue. Paid $44 for one this morning. Also paid an electrician's bill of $51.58. OTOH I found .10 cents, and a friend called round to see the new house bringing a big bag of veggies from her garden.

This morning I dashed over to the store to pick up some bread, and I found $2 by the (empty) taxi stand. Nice.

The lawyer sent me a check for $5,998 left over from the sale of my old house, so I paid it into my EF. Soon be at $10,000!

The supermarket down the road from me quite often sells its less than perfect produce at reduced prices. Today I bought a bag of precut stir fry veges for $2. I would never pay full price for that, but it's a good way for me to get a variety of veges, since if I bought all the carrots, broccoli, cauli, onions, mushrooms and zucchini there is a chance they would spoil before I used it all.

Also today I found .10 cents.

today I spent 0, and found .20 cents to put in my change jar. I now have $12.30 in there.

In: found .10 cents

Out: fruit $4.80

found 50 cents
spent $1 on a can of peaches

a no spend day and I found 10 cents. So I am richer tonight.

I think folks is getting so poor they has holes in their pockets. The little money they have drops thru onto the street. Today I picked up a $nz10 bill. Doing the happy dance and checking there's no holes in my pockets.

I found a 10GBP in a wallet - all the money I have left from my trip. I took it to the bank and exchanged it for $nz19.

Now if only someone would pay me for every pound of weight I lost...

Call me an optimist. I don't buy scratch lottery tickets but I pick up ones people have thrown away, just in case they overlooked a winner. I picked one up today and it was worth $3. Thank you unknown person who dropped it.

Today was a nice warm day so I walked into town. On the way I found a whole FIVE DOLLARS!!! I rushed to the bank straight way and deposited it in my house account which I'm saving to redo my kitchen. It will pay for five minutes of the carpenter's time. Now if only I could find five thousand dollars...

Ugh, spring. With erratic earthquakes, howling high winds and dismal downpours - who needs it? It can go back where it came from. I stayed at home and read something absolutely fascinating - my bank statement. Last month I earned nz$1.02 on my FI account. Goody goody, now I can afford a new toothbrush every month without depleting my net worth.

Also I have $9.50 in change to put in the House a/c. And the mailbox just yeilded up an invitation to attend a seminar on Forex speculation - oops, investing. Free drinks and nibbles. Ah, the joys of being a capitalist and a landowner.

So my $5,000 Ef is sitting in an online account and - tada! it earns $10 interest every month. I feel I am finally becoming financially independent. all I have to do is repeat the saving 100 times and I will have $1,000 a month coming in. Rich, I tell ya, rich.

Owing to the fact I paid secondary income tax last year, I'm getting a refund of nz$498.50 this year. Eagerly waiting...and pondering the best thing to do with it.

Payday, and as all the regular monthly bills are already paid, there is only groceries to buy for the week. This month is a 5 paycheck month, so bar anything unforseen cropping up, I should have nz$400 left over on the 30th. Impatiently counting the days off the calendar...

I earned $300 more than I spent last month, so went to transfer the savings into my EF. I realised I has earned nz$5.47 in interest on that account. Yay.

It's nowhere Financial Independence yet, but I get the feeling my money is working for me rather than just me working for money.

On my way to work this mornig I found 10 cents. When I got back tonite there were three letters in my mailbox - all from the IRD.

The first said my student loan, which was supposed to have been paid in full in 2002, actually had a balance of $5.13, but they are writing this off so I now officially owe nothing.

The second said I had qualified for an interest write off in 2002 which hadn't been credited, so they would be shortly sending me a refund.

The third contained my refund check - for $14.24.

I was left wondering how much it cost them to process all that little lot and considering how to spend my windfall. The wool sale is now safely over so I quess it will have to go in my EF.

today the 13th was a lucky day for me. I found .30 cents.

Life is hard sometimes. Especially when I'm coming home from my evening cleaning job and I'm hungry and I have to go past all the fast food joints in our area. The thought of going home and waiting while I cook up a meal makes me want to give in and buy some pizza or a burger more often than I should.

So I'm taking action. Before I leave for work I put a banana or some raisins or some other snack in my bag and nibble on it as I walk past the Chinese takeaways. On a cold night it's not as comforting as fries would be, but it works.

Maybe next winter I could get a thermos and fill it with really thick soup? At least I didn't spend tonite and I found 10 cents outside the Indian restaurant so I came home richer than I went.

Yesterday I watched the video The Secret with some friends. I was a bit sceptical about the law of attaction idea, but decided to do some experimenting to see if it works. So just before I went to sleep I spent a few minutes focusing very hard on drawing the sum of one dollar to myself.

This morning I was on my way to work and as I passed a phone booth I had a sudden impulse to check it for change. Inside I found two fifty cents!

I often find coins so that's not unusual in itself, but it's odd I found exactly that amount right at that moment. I shall carry on experimenting and see if it works with larger sums.